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Are all cartridges refillable?

Can all cartridges be refilled? Yes

Will all refilled cartridges work? NO

Let’s tackle these cartridges in several parts.

Part One – Printhead cartridges.

Printhead cartridges are composed mostly of the “old” fashion HP, Dell, Canon, and Lexmark ink cartridges. They are distinguishable by the copper dots on the front and the silver or gold rectangle on the cartridge bottom. These two parts together make up what is known on these cartridges as the printhead.

The side with the copper dots lines up with a similar array of dots on the printer. Attached to these dots are wires that run through a sponge in the cartridge and attach to one or more of the holes on the bottom of the cartridge.

To understand what happens to the printhead, it is important to understand how these cartridges work in general. When the printer goes to print it sends messages to each of the dots and wires. In essence, it turns the dots and wires on and off about 5,000 times a second (not a typo, yes five thousand times per second). When the printer turns the dot and wire on, the ink blows a bubble around said wire. When the wire is turned off, the bubble cools and then busts like a water balloon hitting the pavement. When the bubble bursts the ink “jets” through the holes and onto the paper.

Here’s the problem. The ink also acts as a coolant on the holes, keeping them from overheating. When there is not enough ink coming through the holes, the holes overheat (similar to a car radiator) and due to their fragility, actually melt closed – never to be opened again. It is not a problem putting ink into this cartridge, but it will be a problem getting ink to come out, thus rendering the cartridge useless.

At Quality Ink and Toner, we always test the cartridges before we fill them to make sure the holes are not sealed – and – after we fill them to make sure they provide the quality of printing the cartridge should provide.